Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Control of US Senate at Stake Tuesday

Katherine Gypson

   Control of the U.S. Senate -- and largely the success or failure of the
   next U.S. president's agenda -- rests on just a handful of races
   nationwide that polls show are tightening in the final hours before
   Election Day 2020.

   Of the 35 U.S. Senate seats up for reelection Tuesday, seven are rated
   true toss-up races by the non-partisan Cook Political Report.

   Democrats need a net pickup of three seats if Democratic presidential
   candidate Joe Biden wins the White House or a net pickup of four seats
   if U.S. President Donald Trump is reelected to a second term, because
   if there is a 50-50 Senate, the vice president breaks the tie.

   Senate Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority but have a
   numerically more challenging year since they are defending twice as
   many seats as Democrats this election cycle. Only one of the 12
   Democrat-held U.S. Senate seats up for reelection this year is rated as
   leaning Republican. In the Alabama Senate race, Trump-endorsed former
   football coach Tommy Tuberville has been leading Democratic Senator
   Doug Jones for months.

   Trump's influence will be the deciding factor for most of these close
   toss-up races, says Michele Swers, a professor of American government
   at Georgetown University.

   "If he wins a state, it's very likely that his coattails could help
   pull over the person who's running for Senate. And if he's doing poorly
   in a state, that's a big hurdle that they have to make up," she said.

   Here's where a handful of key races stand:

   Iowa

   "This is where you really get a good signal of the dynamics of the
   national race affecting state-level races," said Casey Burgat, director
   of the Legislative Affairs program at the George Washington University
   Graduate School of Political Management.

.